My Bible... (Sept. 12, 2009)

 communion_bread300wWhen you see a child playing or are cognizant of their proximity, they seem so self absorbed.  Partly for that reason, children sometimes shock us by the things that they absorb through some sort of intelligent and unintentional saturation.  Like a recent Sunday in Seoul, during which we went to the large Catholic cathedral on that Sunday, partly because the school provided a free bus.  On this Sunday, Bentley was distracted by two new friends; adopted Columbian twin boys who have a dark complexion like Bentley does (although they are Columbian and Bentley is Ethiopian).  Most of the way into mass, the priest briefly described how Jesus was at the table and broke the bread for his disciples.  Bentley did not seem to being paying attention but was definitely listening.  He pulls my arm and whispers in that non-whisper of little, eager boys, "That story is in my Bible too!" he says.  What an extraordinary memory this beautiful boy has!

           [We go to mass because it is a sort of mental relief and emotional holiday to to visit this beautiful, brick cathedral for English mass.  Catholic services generally do not contain the emotional intensity which evangelicals intentionally saturate their service in.  Catholic mass is pacific in the original sense.  The priest's Irish accent, the predictable ritual, the lack of commotion, the silence of the building.  The space inside the church seems to also put a space inside my mind.  I don't loose my thinking, but my thinking stops taking up all my mental space.  Instead there is space for God and calmness.  It is a mental sabbath to sit & stand in there for 30 minutes.  I think I do more worship and more reflection in 30 minutes of Catholic mass than I do most other places and times.]

 copyright, 2012 Jay Reimer